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‘The Guardians’ Are Time’s 2018 Person Of The Year

NBC

Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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“The Guardians” — a group of impactful journalists — have been selected as Time Magazine’s 2018 Person of the Year.

Time will release several versions of their 2018 Person of the Year cover featuring different members of “The Guardians.” Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who was brutally murdered by the Saudi regime, graces one of the covers.

The other members of “The Guardians” are Maria Ressa, an editor in the Philippines who frequently criticizes her country’s government, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters journalists who were arrested in Myanmar, and The Capital Gazette, the local U.S. paper that was targeted in a shooting that killed four of its employees.

The decision was announced Tuesday morning on NBC’s “Today” by Time Magazine’s editor in chief, Edward Felsenthal.

“As we looked at the choices, it became clear that the manipulation and abuse of the truth is really the common thread in so many of this year’s stories,” Felsenthal said.

WATCH:

Time announced the ten 2018 Person of the Year finalists Monday: President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, March for our Lives activists, separated families, Meghan Markle, special counsel Robert Mueller, Ryan Coogler, Christine Blasey Ford, and Jamal Khashoggi. (RELATED: Time Announces Shortlist For Person Of The Year)

President Donald Trump, who won the prize in 2016, came in second place this year, while special counsel Robert Mueller finished third.

The 2017 awardees were “The Silence Breakers,” a title Time gave to the women who spoke up about sexual harassment and assault and kicked off the #MeToo movement.

Previous winners include former Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, infamous German leader Adolf Hitler, former U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Ken Starr, Mark Zuckerberg, and Pope Francis.

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